Secret Afternoon
by millstone1005
Summary: [One shot] What Luke, Ryan, and Marissa may have done during the afternoon they spent together in episode 1.12 'The Secret' , including the fight at the baseball field. A missing scene story. Revised and Reposted.


Title: Secret Afternoon

Summary: What Luke, Ryan, and Marissa may have done during the afternoon they spent together in episode 1.12 _The Secret_, including the fight at the baseball field. (A missing scene story.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to _The O.C_. No profit is taken from this story.

Author's Notes: I originally wrote this in the summer of 2004 for the TWoP Missing Scene Challenge, but I deleted it because it sucked. I have done a bunch of work on it and now I am reposting it. Hopefully it sucks less now, although I'm still not entirely happy with it.

* * *

Ryan got worried about Luke when he wasn't in school the day after it became general knowledge that his father was gay. So after school he headed over to Luke's house on his bike to see if there was anything he could do to help. Ryan felt guilty as he remembered how Kirsten said at dinner last night that Luke's mother was already filing for divorce.

Ryan knew that he _had_ to be the one responsible for the news getting out that Luke's father was gay. He was the only one who knew – aside from Luke and his dad of course – and he promised Luke that he wouldn't say anything, but he broke his word and told Marissa. Ryan had figured that it should be safe to tell _her_, at least. Since Luke was her friend, he expected her to _want_ to keep his secret. But when Ryan found out that everyone knew about it, he knew that it must have been Marissa who let the cat out of the bag.

Ryan frowned to himself as he thought about it. She must have told Summer. He knew she told her best friend pretty much everything, and Summer of course could never keep a secret. But when Ryan accused his girlfriend of telling, she denied it then accused him of not trusting her. So now they were each mad at the other, and they were not currently on speaking terms.

But when Ryan got to Luke's house, it was Marissa who answered the door, which surprised him.

_"Hey, why are you here?"_

_"Same reason you are."_

Then Luke made an appearance from behind the door.

_"Hey."_

_"You OK, man?"_

Luke nodded, then invited Ryan in. When Ryan walked in, he could see that things were as bad as he feared. Luke's dad was moving out, his mother could be heard crying, and his usually boisterous little brothers were sitting morosely in front of the TV. Ryan felt even more guilty. This family was falling apart and it was all his fault. He should have kept Luke's secret better.

But luckily Luke had some news that made him feel better.

_"Look, man. I owe you an apology. It wasn't you who said anything. My dad... after we saw him, he... he came out to my mom. And... she wigged and called a couple friends and then everybody in Newport knew. So..."_

Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad that it wasn't him and Marissa who let the secret out. But now he felt guilty about accusing Marissa of telling, when she didn't. She was right, what she said before – he didn't trust her, but he should have.

Ryan told Luke, _"Don't worry about it. I just... wanted to see how you were doing."_

Just then, Luke's mom walked into the hallway, crying.

_"Hey, Mom."_

Luke's dad followed his mom into the hallway.

_"Meredith, please..."_

But Meredith clearly didn't want to hear it. She escaped from her husband by hurrying up the stairs. So Luke's dad turned his attention to his son.

_"Luke, could I... um... Luke, please..."_

Luke obviously didn't want to hear it, either. He rushed past Ryan and Marissa and out the front door, looking like he was going to start crying, or get angry, or both. This left Ryan and Marissa standing awkwardly in the foyer with Luke's father.

Marissa spoke for them both and assured Mr. Ward, "Don't worry. We'll go after him."

Mr. Ward nodded and gave Marissa and Ryan a little smile. "Thanks for being here for him, you guys. You're good friends."

Ryan gave him a little smile and nod back, acknowledging the thanks for the both of them. Ryan guessed that Mr. Ward was probably right: he and Luke _could_ be friends now, after this.

So Ryan immediately headed out the front door to go after Luke, with Marissa right behind him. Ryan just hoped that Luke wasn't already gone in the few seconds' head start that he had. Luckily, Ryan and Marissa easily found their friend. He was right there in the driveway, sitting in the cab of his pick-up truck. Ryan guessed that Luke wanted to leave but couldn't. Marissa's SUV was blocking him in.

As they got closer to the truck, Ryan decided to hang back and let Marissa be the one to approach Luke. He figured that she would have better luck since she and Luke were obviously much closer friends than Ryan and Luke were, what with their long history and all.

When Marissa reached Luke, she tried to get his attention. "Luke."

Luke didn't react at all to his ex-girlfriend. He continued to stare straight ahead with a blank look on his face. Marissa moved closer and reached in through the open driver's side window to put her hand on Luke's forearm.

She tried again, more gently. "Luke." This time Luke actually looked at her. Marissa gave him a little smile. "Why don't you come with us? Come on, we'll go somewhere. Anywhere you want."

Ryan was glad when he heard Marissa say that. That was what he was going to suggest, because he didn't think Luke should be alone right now.

After a moment, Luke responded to Marissa. "Yeah, OK."

"Come on. We'll take my car."

Luke nodded. Marissa and Ryan stepped back to let Luke get out of his truck, then the three of them headed for Marissa's car. But before they get there, Luke stopped.

"Wait."

Luke quickly jogged around the side of the house and out of sight. Ryan looked to Marissa to see if she knew what Luke was up to, but she just shrugged. So all they could do was wait and see.

Ryan decided to take the opportunity to put his bike into the back of Marissa's SUV. He was just finishing when Luke reappeared, carrying two 6-packs of beer. He put them into the back seat, taking out a bottle for himself and offering a bottle to Ryan and Marissa who both declined.

As Marissa backed out of the driveway, she asked Luke, "So, where do you want to go?"

Luke just shrugged and looked out the side window, sipping his beer.

"How about the beach? Or the pier?"

Luke glanced at Marissa then looked down, picking at the label of his beer bottle. "No, I don't want to... run into anybody. Could you just drive?"

"Sure."

Ryan listened to Marissa's and Luke's conversation from the back seat. He could understand Luke not wanting to see anybody from Harbor, or hell, anyone from Newport. Everybody knew now, and Luke would probably get looks and comments. Ryan could understand not wanting to deal with that. He knew that he hated the looks and comments that he usually got.

So the three of them drove around Newport for a while, not really talking very much. When Luke finished his beer, Ryan was glad that he didn't ask him to hand him another one. He was really hoping that Luke wasn't going to want to get drunk today, and especially hoping that he wasn't going to want Ryan to get drunk with him.

At one point, they drove past a set of batting cages, and Luke spoke up. "Hey, could you pull in here?"

"Sure."

As the three friends got out of the car, Luke grabbed one of the 6-packs of beer to carry over to the cages with them.

"Hey, Chino, do you play baseball?"

"Some. Not in a league or anything."

"I used to play little league. Center field." Ryan nodded. Luke continued, "Have you been to a batting cage before?"

Ryan gave Luke one of his looks. "They _do_ have batting cages in Chino, you know."

Luke looked a little chagrinned. "Sorry." Then he turned to Marissa. "You want to join us?"

Marissa shook her head. "Nah, I'll just watch you guys."

When they got to the cages, Luke put down the 6-pack and took out and opened another beer. Ryan offered to let Luke hit first, so he went ahead in – with his beer – paid his money, and started hitting balls. Ryan and Marissa sat down on a bench behind the cage to watch him.

After a few minutes, Ryan looked over at Marissa. When she finally looked back at him, he told her, "Listen, I owe you an apology."

Marissa shrugged. "It's OK."

Ryan shook his head. "No, really, you were right, I didn't trust you and I should have. I'm sorry."

Marissa nodded and went back to watching Luke. Ryan wasn't sure if that meant that she forgave him or not. Either way, she obviously didn't want to talk about it any more, so Ryan didn't push and just went back to watching Luke also. As they watched, Luke swung and missed a ball and started swearing.

Ryan smiled at that and whispered to Marissa, "I guess he's a little pissed, huh?"

"His dad lied to him. Wouldn't you be upset, too?"

"I guess."

After that, Ryan watched Marissa for a moment. She had no idea – and he didn't want her to know – about all the stuff that his own father did to him, lying being the least of it. Ever since this whole thing with Luke and his dad came up a couple of days ago, it made Ryan think a lot about his own dad. Ryan looked back at Luke. He considered Luke lucky to have the father that he had, even with the keeping secrets and the being gay. And it wasn't about the money, either. Ryan sighed and rubbed his forehead. He didn't want to think about this any more.

When Luke finished up his allotment of balls, he took off the batting helmet and put down the bat and called over to Ryan. "Your turn."

But Ryan figured that Luke could use some more time, so he called back, "Why don't you go ahead and go again."

"Um... Sure, if you want."

"Yeah, go ahead."

Luke shrugged and put the batting helmet back on and picked the bat back up. He put in some more money, got another set of balls, and kept batting. Ryan watched as Luke hit the balls hard, getting out all of his frustrations. Ryan smiled to himself. He was glad that Luke hadn't decided to take out his frustrations on Ryan's face instead.

As Ryan continued to watch Luke bat, he couldn't stop himself from comparing their fathers. He thought about maybe trying to tell Luke something, you know, to let him know that things could be worse, much worse. The problem was, though, that Ryan didn't want to reveal too much, and he didn't want to turn this into being about him, either. He didn't want to minimize what Luke was going through.

Ryan could imagine that if you trusted someone completely, like a parent, and they let you down, that it could be pretty devastating. He had to just imagine it because he'd never trusted anyone enough, especially his parents, to have that happen to him. He tried to think, what if Sandy lied to him about something important... Yeah, he'd be pissed off, too.

At this point, Ryan noticed Marissa watching him instead of Luke. She looked like she was about to ask him what he was thinking about. He thought maybe she could guess, but he didn't want to talk to her about his father. Not now. So he tried distracting her.

"So, um, how are things going with you and your dad?"

Marissa looked at Ryan like she knew what he was up to, but she answered his question anyway.

"Good. We're getting along great. You know, it's weird – we're a lot closer now then we were before... you know... everything."

"Yeah. I'm glad for you."

Marissa smiled at him. "Thanks."

After Luke finished up his second round of batting, Ryan went ahead into the batting cage to hit some balls himself. He watched as Luke sat down next to Marissa, opened yet another beer, and started talking to her. Ryan smiled to himself as he started batting. Good, maybe Marissa could help Luke feel better about the situation. The three of them spending the afternoon together was a good idea.

Once both Luke and Ryan were sick of hitting baseballs, the three of them finished up and left the batting cages, remembering to take the rest of the beer, and the empties, with them. As they were about to get into Marissa's car, Marissa addressed Luke.

"You know, it's going to get dark soon. Maybe I should take you home."

Luke shook his head emphatically. "No. I don't want to go back there. And I have an idea where we can go next."

"Your parents will be worried..."

Luke scowled. "Let them worry. I'm almost 18, and –"

That confused Ryan, so he interrupted. "You are?"

Luke looked at Ryan and nodded. "Yeah. My birthday's in January."

Marissa leaned over and whispered to Ryan, "He had to repeat the second grade."

Ryan whispered back, "Oh."

Ryan looked at Luke and gave him a look like _sorry_. He hoped it wasn't a touchy subject. But Luke didn't look upset, not about that anyway, and just got into the car, so Ryan wasn't worried.

"Come on, guys, let's go."

Ryan and Marissa looked at each other, shrugged, and got into the car too. Once she was behind the wheel, Marissa asked Luke, "OK, where to?"

Luke smiled. "You'll see."

Ryan and Marissa quickly learned that Luke's destination was the Newport Beach town baseball diamond, where Luke told them he used to play little league. This time when they got out of the car, Luke grabbed both 6-packs, carrying one himself and handing the other one to Ryan. He led them over to the third base dugout, which he explained was his team's dugout, as the home team.

Once they reached the bench and sat down, Ryan decided he could give in and have one beer with Luke, who had been bugging him all day to drink with him. As he pulled out and opened a beer from the ones left in his 6-pack, he saw Luke do the same thing with his. Ryan watched Luke for a few moments. He didn't look very drunk, at least not yet. Ryan guessed that he probably drank enough, on a regular basis, that a few beers wouldn't make him too drunk too soon. It wasn't time to worry yet.

After a few minutes, Luke stood up and started pacing back and forth. To Ryan, he looked like he was still angry, a little lost, and maybe even feeling sorry for himself. Finally, he stopped pacing, looked at Ryan, and started to talk.

_"My entire life has been one giant lie. Everything I thought I knew about my dad..."_

Luke walked along the bench, down to where Marissa was standing.

_"I mean, all those business trips he took... Or how about when he missed one of my games because he was 'working late'? I don't even know if this guy was the first one or if there were others." _Luke paused, clearly having a hard time._ "I can't even think about it."_

Marissa tried to console him. _"Look, I know, it's hard, but after everything I've been through with my dad, we've never been closer. I mean, we're finally able to be honest with each other, and talk to each other. And... I don't know... maybe you can have that with your dad."_

_"What he has to say, I don't want to hear."_

Luke walked back down the bench and sat back down next to Ryan.

Marissa rubbed her arms and told them, _"I'm going to go grab a jacket. It's cold."_ Then she walked off through the field towards her car.

After Marissa left, Ryan looked at Luke and decided to take the opportunity of being alone with him to say something about his own father. Since the batting cage, Ryan had been trying to think of what to say, but he couldn't come up with anything that he wanted to share that might make Luke feel better. That is, until Luke just mentioned about his father missing some of his games. That gave him an idea.

_"Well... even if he wasn't honest with you, he still cared. He did make it to some of your games."_

_"Whatever. What does it even matter?"_

_"It matters. Especially if you had a dad who didn't make it to any of your games. Who didn't even know what sport you played – or cared."_

Luke just looked at Ryan, like he was a little surprised, whether at the fact that Ryan was talking about his past, or about what Ryan's father did, Ryan couldn't tell. Ryan gave Luke a little half-smile to confirm that he wasn't kidding, then he looked down, ashamed.

Luke looked back forward again. _"Everything is just so screwed up."_

Suddenly, out of nowhere, two soccer players from Del Vista High come up in front of the dugout fence, right in front of Ryan and Luke. The one in front of Luke started the taunting.

_"Isn't this romantic? A couple of Harbor butt pirates."_

_"Is there a problem? Other than the fact that we kick your ass every year?"_

_"Nah, Dude, no problem at all. Didn't mean to interrupt your date."_

The taunting was definitely getting to Luke. He was obviously getting angrier and angrier. He put his beer down hard on

the bench.

The Del Vista guy took a step forward. _"Fag."_

Luke jumped up and grabbed the fence._ "What'd you call me?"_

Then Luke ran around the dugout fence and out onto the field. Ryan felt he had no choice but to back up his friend, so he followed him out. Once Luke reached the Del Vista guys, he bumped his shoulder into the guy who had been taunting him, knocking him back. But that just gave the guy more ammunition.

_"Yo, Dude, keep your hands off me. Save that for your boyfriend."_

Ryan was still hoping to avoid an all-out fight. He promised Sandy and Kirsten that he wouldn't get into any more fights.

_"OK. Let's just... not do this."_

In response, the second Del Vista player shoved Ryan with both hands.

_"How about a black eye for the queer guy, huh?"_

Ryan wasn't about to take that and not do anything about it, so he shoved the guy back with both of his own hands.

And the first Del Vista just couldn't stop with the wisecracks. _"Yo, why don't you just run to your daddy?"_

Ryan and Luke looked at each other. They'd each been in enough fights that Ryan could guess what Luke was thinking, and vice-versa. The two of them looked back at the guys in front of them, and each threw a punch, at the same time, taking down both of the Del Vista guys. Ryan looked at Luke, pleased. And Luke was obviously pleased, too, since he smiled back at Ryan. It looked for a moment like this fight was all taken care of.

But then Ryan spotted six more Del Vista guys coming their way. He could see Luke out of the corner of his eye giving him a look like he was scared. Well, who wouldn't be? Ryan was scared, too. The Del Vista players outnumbered them 8 to 2. Crap.

During the fight itself, Ryan didn't have time to worry about how Luke was doing. He had four guys of his own to deal with. Well, actually, it quickly became three when Ryan punched one and he went down and didn't get back up. Despite there being three of them, Ryan managed to avoid serious injury because they weren't very good fighters, and Ryan concentrated on defending himself, so he was able to ward off or duck most of their blows. And it wasn't like Ryan wasn't used to this – being out-numbered in a fight. There _was_ one guy who kept grabbing and twisting Ryan's t-shirt, but that only did damage to the t-shirt.

The fight didn't last long. The ended when they all heard Marissa's car horn as she drove up next to the baseball field and kept blowing it over and over again. When Ryan looked over he could see her holding up her cell phone out the car window, yelling that she was calling the police. Upon hearing that, the Del Vista guys ran off, leaving Ryan and Luke behind.

Finally, Ryan got a chance to see how Luke was, and he didn't look so good. He was sitting on the ground, up against the dugout fence, groaning and holding his knee. His face was all bruised. Luckily, Ryan didn't see any blood or open wounds anywhere. Ryan went right over to him and was quickly joined by Marissa.

"Are you guys OK?"

"I'm OK, just a few bruises, but I don't know how Luke is."

"Maybe we should take him to the hospital. I –"

Luke interrupted, "No hospital. I'll be all right. It's not that bad. Just help me up. I think I hurt my knee."

Ryan reached forward to grab Luke's arm. "I agree, I don't think he needs a hospital. Can you get his other side?"

Marissa grabbed Luke's other arm, and together they helped him get up, limp over to the SUV, then climb up into the back seat. From the way he moved, Ryan could tell his knee was hurting, as was his stomach or maybe it was his ribs.

As Marissa climbed into the driver's seat, she told Luke, "I'll take you home."

"No. No. I don't want to go home. I told you."

Ryan offered, "We can go to my place."

Luke accepted, and Marissa agreed. So Marissa drove them over to the Cohens'. On the way home, Ryan tried to figure out why Luke got so much more hurt than he did. He came up with a number of reasons.

First, he figured that while he was fighting three guys, Luke was probably fighting four.

Second, Ryan was fighting defensively while Luke was probably angry and trying to get in as many blows as he could on the other guys, and not trying to protect himself at all.

Third, those guys were targeting Luke in the first place – Ryan was only secondary.

Fourth, Luke was a little bit under the influence of the alcohol, so maybe he wasn't as good a fighter as usual.

And finally, Luke was used to being on the other side – with a group of guys beating up some poor geek.

Add it all up, and Ryan figured that it made sense that Luke would get more beat up.

When they got to the Cohen house, Ryan and Marissa again helped Luke, this time out of the SUV and up to the front door. Once they were inside, Ryan heard Kirsten and Sandy talking in the family room so he steered Luke down the hallway in that direction.

_"Hey."_

When she saw them, Kirsten moved forward to try and help. _"Oh, my god. Are you guys OK?"_

Ryan didn't want the Cohens to think he was the one who beat up Luke, so he quickly said, _"I didn't do it this time."_

_"I'm going to get the first aid kit."_

Sandy offered, _"Come on, have a seat."_

Ryan and Marissa lowered Luke down to the couch. He sat down with a grunt. Obviously he was still hurting.

Seth stepped in front of Luke. _"Hey, what happened?"_

_"I guess bad news travels fast."_

Sandy asked Luke, _"Have you called your folks?"_

_"No."_

_"I'll call them."_

_"No. No. No. I'd rather not call them, if.. if it's OK."_

Seth was the one who answered, _"It's all right."_ Then he told his dad, _"Hey, he can just stay in the guest room."_

Sandy told Luke, _"Sure."_

Sandy walked into the kitchen and was met by Kirsten, carrying the first aid kit. He told her, quietly, _"I'm going to call his dad."_

_"OK."_

While Sandy took the kitchen phone outside to talk in private, Kirsten went over to the four kids in the family room. She wanted to get Luke set up in the guest room, so Ryan went over and helped him up from the couch, this time with Seth's help. They got him up the stairs and into the guest room, and then lowered him down on the bed. Kirsten and Marissa followed them up.

Kirsten took charge. "OK. Let's see where you're hurt. Take off your shirt."

Luke threw Ryan a look which he interpreted as uncomfortable, embarrassed, or even panicked at the thought of Kirsten examining him. Ryan gave Luke a little nod to let him know he got the message. Then he gently took the first aid kit from Kirsten.

"I got this, thanks." And addressing everyone in the room, "If you guys could give us a few minutes..."

Ryan didn't wait for an answer, but went ahead and shooed Kirsten, Seth, and Marissa out of the room and shut the door behind them. But when he turned to face Luke, he still didn't look happy.

"Look, I can handle this myself..."

"I have some experience at this – assessing people's injuries."

Ryan moved away from the door and stopped next to the bed. When Luke didn't say anything else, Ryan figured he didn't object.

"OK, first you need to take off your shirt. You might have bruised ribs. And your pants, so we can check your knee." When Luke hesitated, Ryan added, "Come on, man, it's not like we haven't seen each other in the locker room after soccer."

Luke thought for a moment, then nodded and shrugged like he couldn't argue with that. So he went ahead and took off his shoes, then his sweatshirt, t-shirt, and pants. (Of course, he left his boxers on.) Ryan and Luke together checked out his ribs, his knee, and his various bruises. They decided that it was nothing serious, just bruises, and he probably twisted his knee. They figured it should all feel better after resting a little. And afterwards, since Luke was in some pain, Ryan went to get him some aspirin and a glass of water.

After Ryan returned with the aspirin, and before he left again to let Luke get dressed and get some rest, Ryan hesitated. He was a little nervous about something he wanted to ask Luke. When Luke looked at him questioningly about why he wasn't gone yet, Ryan took a deep breath and asked.

"Hey, man, can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure, of course."

"Remember what I told you about my dad? Well, I don't usually talk about my family –"

"I won't tell anybody, I promise."

Ryan gave Luke a small grateful smile. "Thanks."

Ryan turned to leave, but before he went out the door, Luke called to him. "Ryan – Thanks, for everything, man."

Ryan nodded his acknowledgement to Luke, then went ahead out of the guest room and closed the door behind him.

Downstairs, Ryan found everyone in the kitchen, where it looked like Kirsten was getting everyone something to eat. When he joined them at the table, Marissa asked, "How's Luke?"

"It's nothing serious, just some bruises. His ribs seem to be OK. I think he twisted his knee, but it should be fine."

Sandy asked, "How are you?"

"I'm all right. Just a few bruises. No big deal."

While he was answering Sandy, Marissa got up like she was going up to see Luke. Ryan called after her.

"Um... He's getting dressed and he needs to rest for a while."

"I have to get going, my dad is expecting me for dinner. I was just going to tell Luke goodbye."

"Oh, OK. Just make sure you knock first. Actually, hold on, I'll walk you out."

Ryan walked Marissa to the living room, then waited at the bottom of the stairs while she went up and said goodbye to Luke. After she was done, they joined back up and headed out the front door.

_"So, you guys need a ride to school in the morning?"_

Ryan was a little surprised. He still wasn't sure if Marissa had forgiven him for not trusting her._ "You don't mind?"_

_"Yeah, well, you were pretty great with Luke today."_

Ryan appreciated Marissa saying that, but as great as he may have been for Luke today, he wasn't so great yesterday when he broke his word to him.

_"I never should have told you."_

_"Because I'll tell everyone, right?"_

_"No, because he asked me not to."_

_"But, see, the unwritten rule of relationships is, you're allowed to tell your girlfriend. Because everything you say to me, stays with me. And vice-versa."_

_"So then you didn't tell anybody that I went off on you yesterday when I thought you told?"_

_"No... Well, I mean, just Summer."_

Ryan nodded. _"Will you... tell... Summer about this?" _Ryan leaned forward and gave his girlfriend a kiss.

Marissa smiled._ "No, this will stay just between us."_

Ryan and Marissa started to make out but they were interrupted by the arrival of a car in the Cohens' driveway. It was Luke's dad, who they were expecting since Sandy called him. He got out of his car and approached them.

"How's Luke? You don't look too bad, Ryan. You were in the fight, too, right?"

"Yeah, but Luke's worse." Ryan realized how that sounded and quickly added, "I mean, he'll be fine. It's not that bad – just some bruises and he twisted his knee." Ryan gave Mr. Ward an embarrassed smile. "Um, I'll show you in."

Marissa moved to the side and down the steps to give Mr. Ward room. "Uh... I have to get going. Good night, Ryan, Mr. Ward."

"Good night, Marissa."

Ryan nodded at Marissa. "Night, Marissa. See you in the morning."

Ryan started to show Mr. Ward into the house, but then he remembered that his bike was still in the back of Marissa's car.

"Oh, um, Mr. Ward, I forgot, there's something I have to get from Marissa. Last I saw, Sandy and Kirsten were in the kitchen." Ryan pointed the way to the kitchen.

While Luke's dad headed for the kitchen, Ryan rushed back out to catch Marissa before she left. He made it just in time. After getting his bike and kissing Marissa good night once again, Ryan headed back into the house. He found Mr. Ward and Kirsten in the living room.

When Kirsten told Ryan that Sandy was upstairs talking to Luke, he headed up there himself, to see what was going on. He found Seth in the hallway outside the closed guest room door, looking like he was trying to eavesdrop. When he saw Ryan, Seth made shushing sounds and moved away from the door, dragging Ryan down the hall with him.

"My dad is trying to convince Luke to go home with his father. He doesn't want to go. I think he's going to stay here tonight."

At that point, they were interrupted by Sandy coming out of the guest room and heading downstairs. Ryan and Seth exchanged a look and quickly headed to the guest room. They knocked and then entered when Luke called to them to come in. They went over and sat down on the side of the bed with him.

Seth started. "So.. Your dad's here."

"Yup."

"He probably wants you to go home with him."

"Yup."

"Are you going? Because you know, you're welcome to stay here, like I said before."

Luke sighed. "I don't know..."

Ryan suggested, "You know, Sandy and Kirsten are probably talking to your dad in the living room right now..."

Luke looked at him for a moment, then looked at the door, then got up and walked out of the room. Seth started to follow, but Ryan held him back.

"You can't eavesdrop on everything, Seth. Besides, Luke will be back. He's not even wearing his shoes. See?" Seth sighed and sat back down. Ryan changed the subject, "Marissa's going to give us a ride in the morning."

"Oh, good. So you guys made up?"

Ryan smiled. "Yeah. We're good."

After a minute or so, Luke came back and sat down on the bed and put on his shoes. "So, yeah, I'm going home with my dad."

Ryan replied, "That's great. Hey, listen, I was thinking. Tomorrow morning? Marissa, Seth, and I can meet you in the parking lot before school. That way you don't have to walk into school by yourself. You know, if you want."

Luke gave Ryan a smile. "Thanks. That'd be great, man. See you tomorrow."

Then Luke got up, nodded to Ryan and Seth, and headed home with his dad.

* * *

**The End**


End file.
